Packaging machine



y 1956 N. H. MCDOWELL ET AL 2,752,742

PACKAGING MACHINE Filed Feb. 8, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS. NATHAN HEATH McDOWELL PAUL DAV/D MYERS 2/ ATTORNEY July 3, 1956 N. H. MCDOWELL ET AL 2,752,742

PACKAGING MACHINE Filed Feb. 8, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. NATHAN HEATH McDOWELL PAUL DAV/D MYERS M saw A TTORNE V July 3, 1956 MCDOWELL ET AL 2,752,742

PACKAGING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS. NATHAN HEATH McDOWELL PAUL DA V/D MYERS BY (a M W ATTORNEY U mi N m F M w 3 w L s, v w m M Q g x July 3, 1956 NIH. MCDOWELL ET AL Filed Feb. 8, 1954 FIG. 9.

PACKAGING MACHINE Ill/ll: I.-

lit:

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 *2 7/ I m 76 x 73 aa INVENTORS.

NATHAN HEATH McDOWELL PAUL DAV/0' MYERS A T TORNEV United States Patent PAKAG NG Nathan Heath McDowell, Burbank, and Paul David Myers, La Canada, Califi. assignors to Aviation Developments, Ina, Burbank, Calif a corporation of Delaware Application February 8, 1954, SerialNo. 488,774

18 Claims. tfifl. 555-1180) This invention relates to packaging machines, and particularly to machines for packaging perforated objects, such as tubular .or perforated rivets and the like.

In industries which fabricate structures from sheet metal andespec-ia-lly in the airframe industry, the various parts ,of the structure frequently are fastened together bymeans of rivets. Often the structure is such that the conventional riveting method wherein a riveting tool is used at either end of the fastening rivet is impractical if not impossible. A number of ingenious rivets and riveting devices have been developed to meet this problem. One type of rivet has an aXial bore or perforation extending length-wise through the rivet and is fastened by means of a special riveting machine having a rod upon which the rivet is threaded and an enlarged end which may be withdrawn through the hole in the rivet, thereby distending and expanding the rivet.

The necessity .of aligning and orienting eachnvet individually .as it is taken from a bulk container in order to thread the rivet- .on the rod of the riveting machine has heretofore been a tedious and time-consuming job. The present invention makes possible the economical production of a package in which the individual rivets are held so that their perforations are maintained substantially in alignment, and {the rivets are oriented uniformly with respect to. head and shank position.

Therefore, it is possible to load the rod of a riveting machine by simply threading the rod through the aligned rivets in the package and then stripping away the package. The number of rivets in each package may be varied .to meet the requirements of different riveting machines. so that each package provides the number of rivets required .to load the tool.

In accordance with my invention, a machine for packaging pe forated objects is provided which includes a floatingtransport wire comprising a receiver, .a transfer loop and a mandrel, means for threading one by one a plnral'ity of perforated objects onto. the receiver, a drive reel mounted adjacent the loop to impel the objects along h 90p and W apping means disposed about the manel- The app mea s ar h -h tha h pe f rations of th pack g d obje are hel u s anti lly in al nment.

In one embodiment .of the invention for packaging rivet or he k a floa ing an por ire incl de a eiver, a, transfer 1009 a d a. mandrel in n c t nuous wire. A threading means picks up rivets one by one from a chute and threads the rivets onto the receiver. The chute is connected to app ratus for supplying rivets one by one which may be a conventional vibratory feeder. A drive reel comprising .a pair of rings connected by reel bars rotates within the transfer loop to impel the threaded rivets from the receiver to the mandrel.

The wrapping means of the preferred form of packaging machine comprises a train of wrapping material folders and pairs of package-forming rollers. The rollers and folders are arranged so that the mandrel portion of the transport wire conductswthe r=ivets through or :between 2,752,742 1C6 Patented July 1 the folders or rollers, affording a mandrel for them to work upon as the rollers draw wrapping material continuously from a supply roll.

A shearing assembly is synchronized with the motion of the rollers to cut the continuous strip of packaged rivets into sections containing a desired number of rivets.

These features and other advantages of the invention are more fully described in the following detailed de scription and accompanying drawing, in which;

Fig. l is a front elevation of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the receiver taken along line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the floating transport mechanism taken along line 3-3 of Fig. '1;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of ,the drive reel and transport wire of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the transport mechanism taken along line 55 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional elevation of the package forming train taken along line 66 of Fig. 1 i

Fig. 7 is a bot-tom plan section taken along line '7-7 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan section taken along line 88 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 9 is a plan section taken along line 9-9 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 10 is a plan section taken along line '1010 of Fig. l; and V Fig. 11 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, Of a package formed by the illustrative embodiment of the invention,

Figs. 1 through 10 illustrate one form of the present invention for packaging rivets, or the like, which may be driven by some suitable means, such as an electric motor (not shown) coupled to the driven parts of the embodiment 'by a conventional pulley and 'V-belt system (not shown). The apparatus includes a frame '20, composed ofa horizontal base 21, a rear plate 22, and a front plate 23. The two plates are substantially parallel and rise vertically from the base.

Rear plate 22 (Fig. 6') supports the conventional V-belt and pulley drive system, which is not illustrated. The front plate serves as a mounting means for the rivet feeding and packaging elements of the machine, and also SLIP- ports the discharge end of a rivet chute 24 (Fig. '1) which delivers a plurality of correctly oriented rivets '25, i. ,e., rivets in a head-up position, from suitable aligning and feeding means, such as a conventional vibratory feeder (not shown).

A driven shaft 26 extends through both vertical plates and turns a threading wheel 27 which is fixed on the shaft. The threading wheel comprises a flanged hub 28 and a plurality of radial fingers 29 that extend from afiange 28A at equal radial intervals. In the illustrative embodiment, there are eight fingers, each of which consists of two spaced spring steel strips 30,. 31 (Fig. 2) which are mounted on opposite faces of the hub flange so as to converge toward their outer ends. At the outer end of each strip a concave indentation 32 is provided which corresponds to a like indentation in the opposing strip to form a cup that approximates the diameter of a rivet shank 25A shown in phantom lines in Fig. 2. The fingers lift rivets from the chute one by one as the wheel rotates counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. l. A wedge 33 spreads the strips and then releases them so that the indentations grip the shank of the rivet in the chute due to the tension of the strips.

A transport wire 34, comprising a receiver portion 36, a substantially helical loop 37 and a mandrel 38, is located so. that each rivet gripped in a finger will be threaded .onto the receiver portion which runs through a guide :tube .39. An angle 40. bolted to. the front plate supports the tube in proper position. Each rivet is presented head first, and a spring-loaded dog 41 (Fig. 1) mounted in the guide tube holds each succeeding rivet until the next finger threads another rivet on the receiver, displacing the rivet held by the dog upwardly along the receiver. After a sufficient number of rivets have been threaded behind it, the lead rivet enters the loop where a drive reel 42 impells it along the transport wire.

The transport wire is not fastened at any point of its length and might be described as floating. A thinwalled metallic cup 43, which houses the loop, and the drive reel which rotates within the loop, orient the wire as a whole with respect to the other components of the apparatus.

The drive reel (Figs. 3 through is composed of two spaced co-axial annular rings 44, 45 which are connected by a number of transverse reel bars 46. The reel rotates within the cup on a reel shaft 47 which is journalled in the front plate 23 and which is concentric with the loop.

The rotation of the drive reel brings the reel bars in contact with the undeside 25B of the rivet heads of the rivets that are threaded on the fioating transport wire, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 5.

The bars impel the rivets around the helical loop within the cup and out through an exit guide tube 50 that surrounds the first part of the mandrel. The bars need not contact every rivet, since a contacted rivet pushes those ahead of it along the wire.

The inner periphery 51 of the cup restricts the radial movement of the loop by offering a bearing surface to the threaded rivets. The periphery of the cup is smoothly finished so that any contact between the rivets and the cup does not impede the motion of the rivets. A semiannual divider ring 52 is fixed to the inner periphery of the cup and is co-extensive with that portion of the helical loop that has two turns of wire. The divider prevents interlock of the traveling rivets.

The entire drive reel assembly is mounted on a rectangular base 53 that is spaced from the plate 23 by bolts and spacers such as bolts 54, 54A and spacers 55, 55A illustrated in Fig. 6. Two guide rails 56, 56A extend along the under surface of the base in a direction which is parallel to the length of the mandrel. A bracket 57 projects from the top edge of the plate 23 and holds a roll 58 of aluuminum foil 59 in line with the path defined by the rails.

The mandrel extends from the loop and emerges from the reel cup through the exit tube which serves as an exterior restrainer for the rivets on the mandrel. tube is fixed to the cup so that its projected center line is substantially tangent to the loop of the transport wire.

The lower end 60 of the exit tube protrudes slightly into a wrapping material folder 61. The bolts 62 and the spring spacers 63 hold the folder away from the front plate and in proper alignment with the mandrel.

As illustrated in Fig. 7, the folder is constructed to shape the aluminum foil from a single sheet which is parallel to the front plate into a sheet which is doubled around the mandrel and its rivet load. A central former 65 in the folder prevents contact between the foil and the rivets, so that at this point the rivets on the mandrel pass through the folder without contact with the foil.

A pair of package-forming rollers 66, 67 press the foil about the mandrel-guided rivets as the rivets and the foil emerge from the first folder. The rollers are substantially tangent to the mandrel and to each other at the same point, and each roller has an outer peripheral band 68 of resilient material, such as rubber, that compresses the foil about the heads of the rivets, thereby pressing the ends 59A, 59B of the double sheet together on either side of the column of rivets. A groove 69 in the metal surface of the roller aligned with the mandrel provides for distention of the resilient band at this point so as to accommodate the thickness of the rivets and the mandrel.

The exit The cross-sectional configuration that the package assumes passing between the first pair of rollers can be seen in Fig. 9.

A second package folder 70 and a second pair of shaping rollers 71, 72, similar to the first rollers, are aligned with the mandrel in the manner described for the first folder and roller pair. The second folder is shaped to turn the longitudinal open sides 59A, 59B of the package strip over toward the strip center, and the rollers compress these folded-over sides into a closed seam 73 to provide a seal. Fig. 11 shows the package strip after this seal has been formed.

Where it is desired to use wrapping material which can be sealed by means of heat and pressure instead of foil, a suitable heating means may be added to the first pair of rollers. By this means, the open sides of the strip may be sealed by the heat and pressure, and the second folder and the second pair of rollers can be eliminated.

As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, only one roller of each pair is driven. The rollers 66 and 71 are idlers that rotate on bearings 75, 76 which are in turn supported by stub shafts bolted to the front plate. Oversized mounting holes allow the position of the shafts to be adjusted to give the desired degree of pressure against the mandrel and its load. A driven shaft 77 journalled in the front plate rotates the driven roller of the second pair, and a similar shaft 78 drives the driven roller of the first pair.

A not 79 holds a flange 80 on the end of the driven shaft of this first pair and supports a cam plate 81 that controls the movement of a spacer pawl 82 adjustably mounted in a spring-loaded lever 83. The lever pivots on a pin 84 carried by a bracket 85 which the first folder supports. The lever carries a cam pin 86 at its free end which rides the cam plate mounted on the driven shaft.

A rotating shearing blade 87 is linked to the driven shaft 78 behind the front plate by means not shown. R0- tation of the roller shaft causes the cam plate to depress the pawl into the path of the mandrel-guided rivets, thereby pinching the packaging material and creating an increment of the package strip that contains no rivets. By properly synchronizing the shear action with the roller rotation, the shearing blade severs the package strip at the empty increment, resulting in a package containing a desired number of rivets.

The shearing and rivet spacing operations are dependent for their results on the degree of synchronization between the various driven components. One arrangement that has proven successful entails rotating the threading wheel at 60 r. p. in. while the drive reel turns at 17 r. p. m. At these speeds the rollers are driven at 11.7 r. p. m. which provides a proper relationship between the rivet feed speed and the wrapping material travel. These settings allow the apparatus to package 480 rivets per minute.

It can be appreciated that the invention is broad enough in scope to encompass the handling of a large variety of tubular or perforated objects in addition to perforated rivets. Minor mechanical alterations in the illustrative embodiment would enable it to accommodate several types of perforated objects without departing from the spirit of the invention. In addition, it will be appreciated that the transport arrangement as well as the mandrel for maintaining alignment between objects to be packaged may be separately employed.

We claim:

1. in a machine for packaging perforated objects the combination including a transport wire comprising a receiver portion, a loop portion, and mandrel portion, means for threading one by one a plurality of perforated objects onto the receiver portion, a drive reel rotatably mounted adjacent the loop portion to impel the perforated objects along the loop portion, and wrapping means disposed about said mandrel portion whereby the perforated tioned substantially in alignment.

2. In a machine for packaging perforated objects so that the perforations are held substantially in alignment, the combination including a transport wire comprising a receiver portion, a loop portion and a mandrel portion, means for threading one by one a plurality of perforated objects on the receiver portion of the transport wire, a drive reel rotatably mounted adjacent the loop portion for impelling the perforated objects along the loop portion, package-shaping means disposed about the aforesaid mandrel portion, and means wrapping the perforated objects in a continuous package while the perforated objects are supported by the mandrel portion.

3. In a machine for packaging perforated objects so that the perforations are held substantially in alignment, the combination including a transport wire comprising a receiver portion, a helical loop portion and a mandrel portion, means for threading one by one a plurality of perforated objects on the receiver portion of the transport wire, a drive reel rotatably mounted with the helical loop portion, a first wrapping material folder, a first pair of package-shaping rollers, a second wrapping material folder, and a second pair of package-shaping rollers disposed along the mandrel portion in a direction away from the helical loop portion in the above recited order.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 including a cylindrical cup surrounding the helical loop portion and the drive reel in substantially coaxial relationship with the cup.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein an annular ring is supported by the inner periphery of the cylindrical cup, said annular ring being disposed between the portions of the loop portion that are coextensive and being itself coextensive with those portions.

6. Apparatus for transporting perforated objects comprising a transport wire having a receiver portion and a loop portion, and a drive reel rotatably mounted within the loop portion to impel the perforated objects along the loop.

7. Apparatus including a mandrel for performing work on perforated objects comprising a transport wire having a loop portion of at least one turn and a mandrel portion, the transport wire being maintained in position by a drive reel disposed coaxially within the loop.

8. In a machine for packaging perforated objects so that the perforations are held substantially in alignment, the combination of, a mandrel, means threading perforated objects to be packaged on the mandrel, folding means disposed adjacent the mandrel for folding a sheet of a packaging material around the mandrel, and a pair of forming rollers disposed on opposite sides of the mandrel for compressing the folded packaging material around the perforated objects.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 8 in which a second folding means is disposed adjacent the mandrel for folding the open edges of the previously folded packaging material over, and a second pair of forming rollers which are disposed on opposite sides of the mandrel for compressing the folded edges of the packaging material.

10. Apparatus for transporting perforated objects in cluding the combination of, a transport wire having a receiver portion and a loop portion, means threading perforated objects one by one on the receiver portion, and a drive reel rotatably mounted within the loop portion for impeling the perforated objects along the transport wire.

11. Apparatus for packaging perforated objects including the combination of, a transport wire having a receiving portion, a loop and a mandrel portion, means threading one by one a plurality of perforated objects onto the receiving portion, a drive reel rotatably mounted adjacent the loop for impelling the perforated objects along the loop, a folding means disposed adjacent the mandrel portion for folding a sheet of packaging material around the mandrel portion, a pair of forming rollers tangentially disposed with respect to the mandrel portion for compressing the folded sheet of packaging material around the perforated objects whereby the perforated objects are held substantially in alignment in the packaging material.

12. Apparatus in accordance with claim 11 including shearing means disposed below the mandrel portion for dividing the folded and compressed packaging material including the perforated objects in sections.

13. Apparatus in accordance with claim 11 in which a second folding means is disposed adjacent the mandrel portion for folding the open edges of the packaging material over, and means sealing the folded-over edges of the packaging material.

14. Apparatus in accordance with claim 13 in which the sealing means comprises a second pair of forming rollers disposed tangentially with respect to the mandrel for compressing the folded edges of the packaging material to provide a seal.

15. Apparatus in accordance with claim 13 including shearing means disposed adjacent the sealing means for cutting the folded, compressed and sealed packaging material including the perforated objects into sections.

16. Apparatus in accordance with claim 14 including shearing means disposed adjacent the second set of forming rollers for cutting the folded and compressed packaging material including the perforated objects in sections.

17. In a machine for packaging perforated objects the combination of, a mandrel, means threading the perforated objects on the mandrel one by one, means folding a sheet of packaging material around the mandrel, a pair of package-shaping rollers for compressing the packaging material around the perforated objects on the mandrel, means coupled to the package-shaping rollers for periodically pinching the packaging material to provide a compressed portion between two of the perforated objects, and shearing means adapted to sever the folded, compressed packaging material including the perforated objects at the places where the aforesaid compressions in the packaging material occur, thereby dividing the packaging material containing the perforated objects into sections each of which includes a selected number of the perforated objects.

18. In a machine for packaging perforated objects the combination of, a transport wire having a receiving portion, a loop and a mandrel portion, means threading one by one a plurality of perforated objects onto the receiving portion, a drive reel rotatably mounted adjacent the loop for impelling the perforated objects along the loop toward the mandrel portion, means folding a sheet of packaging material around the mandrel, a pair of package-shaping rollers for compressing the packaging material around the perforated objects on the mandrel, means coupled to the package-shaping rollers for periodically pinching the packaging material to provide a compressed portion between two of the perforated objects, and shearing means adapted to sever the folded, compressed packaging material including the perforated objects at the places where the aforesaid compressions between two of the perforated objects occur, thereby dividing the packaging material containing the perforated objects into sections each of which includes a selected number of the perforated objects.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,646,571 Avis Oct. 25, 1927 2,156,466 Vogt May 2, 1939 2,385,897 Waters Oct. 2, 1945 2,641,095 Burbank June 9, 1953 

